i realize that kr might not be the best place to ask for advice on this, but i really don't know anyone else who is giving me any useful advice either.

for the summer, i got offered two very different internships. one deals with field work--i take water and soil samples to help clean up a polluted river, for a small non-profit. the other is a summer research position in a lab at my school studying environmental stressors on microorganisms.

which do you think i should choose? i like both, so i am confused. if i am planning to be an environmental scientist (and also maybe going to grad school at some point) sometime in the future, which do you think would be more important: lab work (after all, isn't this where you learn how to be a real scientist? and i would get to know a professor also..), or field work (but isnt' this what environmental scientists do...?)?

That's an interesting question. Which one pays better? Also, which one gives you the chance to learn more? If you are applying to graduate school I also recommend to begin (if you haven't already) having close relationships with your professors. Which one provides you with that opportunity?

At the same time, I don't think either is a bad choice. I don't think you'd lose in any way. If anything, you need to ask yourself what kind of scientist would you like to be....More of an ecologist and sort of 'on the ground' type of experience? Or would you like to be in a lab? They are not mutually exclusive, of course, but environmental scientist do sway in one direction.

Though it's such a beautiful field. Interdisciplinary.

I did the field work in high school and did more lab work in college. Oh and I am not in the environmental science field now. Quite the opposite.

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"We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard-working, very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation," she told the crowd.

thanks for the input, pablita.

the research position pays better, but i could honestly care less about how much i make. i'm not doing either solely for the money -- what i'm looking at most is what kind of learning experience i would get out of it, and what kind of path each one would set me on.

i am going to go check out my professor's laboratory tomorrow, and i guess i will think it over. i hope i make a good choice. eep.

one thing i can say for sure though -- i really like being outside. right now i am leaning towards the field work position a bit more than the lab.

sort of off topic, i know, but: what do you do now? is it really a complete 180 from envsci?

I would say practical experience in the field would be very useful. It depends though on whether you think the non-profit people are well-organised etc. Have you spoken to anyone that did their programme last year? Because often charities, despite good intentions, aren't well organised and you might spend a lot of time doing off topic menial work or kicking your heels. But if its well-organised and you learn a lot, definitely worth it.

I would say so, yes. I got a degree in Art History and Environmental Science. I am working in the arts now.

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"We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard-working, very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation," she told the crowd.

okay, so i decided to take the field work position. i didn't like the lab thing as much as i thought i would, because the research they were conducting wasn't all that appealing to me when i learned about it a bit more.

i did, however, get offered a student research assistant position starting in the fall for a toxicology lab. i get to learn about water pollutants and feed small fish.